The sole female singer from Pentatonix releases a pretty good pop EP.
Release date: 14 July 2017
Record label: RCA Records
Genre: Pop, Dance-pop
Best songs: "Break a Little", "Naked", "Bad Weather"
Worst songs: "See It", "All Night"
Rating: 8/10
Now, a little background. Every time music groups go on hiatus, maybe to do their own thing, or there's any sort of tension, or someone leaves, there tends to be rumours of breakups. And, this did happen with Pentatonix, an a cappella vocal group from Texas who gained prominence after their competing in the third season of 'Sing-Off'. Avi Kaplan, the vocal bass left the group, and it led to members feeling they could be doing solo projects. This brings to Kirstin Maldonado, the only female of the group. Who decided to release an EP influenced by a lot of recent dance-pop. So, what did we get with 'L O V E'?
Well, quite a bit actually, and no, this isn't because she's a cute Latina girl with an admitting good looking body. And yes, I'm pointing this out for a reason, just look at the album cover and one of the tracks, I'm not a huge pervert. She's one of the few pop stars aside from Adele who's not considered skinny. And like Adele, she's got the pipes, although I'd argue Kirstin's far better. It's actually a pretty tasteful piece of art. And it's representative of the album, especially the song I wanna talk about first: "Naked". One of my favourite songs, "Naked" talks about how her intimate most parts about herself (much like her body), are for her lover's eyes only. It starts with a couple sensual verses, leading to huge chorus about how "With you, I'm naked baby, with my clothes off", so even when she's put up her shield and try to hide, he can see through it. He can help her "get her clothes off". And really, you can take it as an outright sex song, because she actually comes off as sexy in her vocal tone and can really pull it off. It has that breathy sound that definitely works. The bumping bass and percussion in the chorus, and the nice quieter verses. It's a nice contrast. Next we'll talk about the lead single, "Break a Little". It starts with a nice piano, and slowly builds up, like with "Naked" with a bombastic chorus. The synths creating the dance-up elements are very well done, and the lyrics about a bad breakup gone wrong and that sticking with it, clinging to that person, could just make things worse. Which if you know Kirstin's romantic situation, it could be unconvincing, as she's engaged and soon to be married, but she's a good enough singer to convince me otherwise, it's a really great song and could have done well had RCA sent it to radio.
"Bad Weather" has a good instrumental loop, and she shows off her great, darker part of her range. Just own who you are, is what the songs is telling. Believe what you believe, and don't care what others say. It's very confrontational. Talking about rumours, and how they can give you a bad image, and it does kinda piss her off. Hell, a media outlet reviewing Kirstin cut up her interview and made her look petty. I guess Kirstin knew this was going to happen, or it happened to her already. It's a huge anger I haven't seen from her, and it's great. In "Something Real", I love the dance synth work on this song, it's a banger. And honestly, it's a fun, and it's kinda asking for sex. At least that's what I got from it. Then we get to see "See It", and it's not great, but it's decent. Far too percussion heavy, but I like the snaps. Has a okay bit of anger, not near "Bad Weather" however. Not much to say as a whole.
Now to the song I don't like... "All Night". It's not the lyrical content. I've gone through this situation. Someone on your mind, and you're not sure if they're actually good or bad for you. It is just all in your head, actually just wishing they were there for you? But the pitch shifting and repeating syllables... see if you got rid of that, I'd love the song. It's not bad by any means, but it's certainly not great.
See, she has the look, personality, charisma, writing chops. She has the vocals to be able to pull off different emotions, and has an amazing range. I can definitely see her breaking into the mainstream. It's a crime she hasn't. Of course, there's always seems to be bad luck for artists I like, so maybe it's wishful thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment